'You're misinformed, misdirected and misled', writes Anil Ambani to Congress president Rahul Gandhi over Rafael Deal

Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani has once more written to Congress president Rahul Gandhi calling the scam allegations being hurled over the Rafale Deal a result of the party being 'misinformed, misdirected and misled by malicious vested interests and corporate rivals.

Here is the full text of the letter by Anil Ambani:

Mumbai, 20 August 2018: Anil D Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Group, in a letter last week to Shri Rahul Gandhi, said the Congress has been misinformed, misdirected and misled by malicious vested interests and corporate rivals on the Rafale offset exports / work share. Some highlights from the said letter:

• Anil Ambani expresses deep anguish over continued personal attacks by Shri Rahul Gandhi on him, and terms all allegations as “baseless, ill-informed and unfortunate”
• Anil Ambani explains to Shri Rahul Gandhi the role of Reliance in offset exports / work share with Dassault
• Anil Ambani clarifies to Shri Rahul Gandhi that Rafale fighter jets are not being manufactured by Reliance or the Dassault Reliance Joint Venture. All 36 planes are to be 100% manufactured in France, and exported from France to India
• Anil Ambani clarifies that not a single component worth a single rupee is to be manufactured by Reliance for these 36 Rafale jets. The allegations relating to “lack of experience” are, thus, irrelevant
• Anil Ambani, in his letter to Shri Rahul Gandhi, says: “There is no contract from the MoD to any Reliance Group company related to 36 Rafale aircraft”
• Anil Ambani says allegations of Reliance benefitting by thousands of crores is a figment of imagination, “promoted by vested interests”. Simply put, “no contract exists with the Government of India”
• Anil Ambani says: “Our role is limited to offset exports / export obligations. More than 100 medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) will participate in this, along with public sector undertakings like BEL and Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO). This role strengthens Indian manufacturing capabilities, and is in pursuance of the Offsets Policy introduced by the Congress-led UPA Government itself from 2005 onwards”
• Anil Ambani says Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that Reliance Defence was set up 10 days before the 10 April 2015 announcement in Paris by both Governments—of the intention to purchase 36 French-manufactured Rafale jets—links factually incorrect information, and is thus irrelevant and completely false
• Anil Ambani says: “The Reliance Group announced its decision to enter the defence manufacturing sector in December 2014-January 2015, months before the intention for purchase of Rafale aircraft. In February 2015, we informed the Indian Stock Exchanges of the companies we have incorporated”

Here's the full press release:

The Congress appears set on following through with its attack on the Modi government on the Rafale deal on the basic premise that following the Prime Minister's intervention, the deal will allegedly cost India more per jet, and that rather than creating jobs for Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL), the lucrative contract for maintaining the jets would go to PM Modi's 'friend' whose company is burdened by a large debt, details of which are in the public domain.

Rahul Gandhi had faced massive embarrassment over the matter during the recent no confidence motion against the Modi government, when he alleged that the French President had personally told him that there was no secrecy clause in place that prevented the Indian government from making the finer points of the deal public. Mere hours later, France issued a release refuting Rahul Gandhi's allegations.

Read: 'Indian Tax-payers Will Pay Rs 1 Lakh Crore To PM Modi's Friend For Rafale,' Says Rahul Gandhi

Earlier, Republic TV had accessed papers that detailed that the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government had decided on a deal that was effectively more expensive than the NDA government's by Rs 59 crore per plane (Rs 1646 crore for NDA, versus Rs 1705 crore for UPA), despite the NDA's deal also carrying added enhancements.

Exposed | Rafale Papers Expose Congress' Claim, UPA Bargained For More Expensive Deal

In an earlier letter written on December 12, 2017, Anil Ambani had written to the Congress president stating why his company had the requisite experience and resources to get the Rafale deal.

Read: Anil Ambani Writes To Rahul Gandhi, Explains Why Reliance Bagged Rafale Contract

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